It's part of the job
by Pinophyta
Summary: You know the Turian and the woman arguing at the doors of the quarantine sector on Omega, right before Mordin's recruitment mission? Whatever happened to them?


The three humans left the district about an hour after they had entered. The Salarian Professor was with them, rapidly speaking with his young assistant, giving him last second instructions and advice. They parted ways, and the young guy came back. I could see he was worried, and nervous. Apparently the old scientist had left him the clinic. At best, he had several months of chaos and reconstruction ahead of him. Poor fellow.

"Hey" I asked him, "did he find a cure?"

The human looked at me, sighed, and kept walking. "For the plague? Yes. It's safe in the district now." He left, mumbling for himself.

I peeked through the door and saw the people on the other side, sweeping, cleaning, clearing the streets of dead bodies. There were still several armed guards coming and going. "Safe" is not what I would have called the district, but yeah, it was less deadly than it had been an hour ago.

I reported to Grizz and he gave me permission to leave. The plague was cured, and I had kept it from spreading. A well done job. A nightmare, if you ask me. I've lost count of the hours I've spent here, all I know is I'm hungry, tired, and the smell of misery has stuck to my clothes like a goddamn parasite. I deserve a drink. And a nice meal.

On the way to my apartment I couldn't help but notice the people gathered on a nearby restaurant. I recognized most of them as residents of the Gozu district, who had probably been waiting around the place to return to their homes. They were all packing up and leaving, happy for the news, and worried about their homes.

A human woman, however, didn't seem to react to the news. She was sitting at the bar, with a bowl full of human food in front of her. I recognized her as the one who had given me hell for a good forty minutes without a rest. What a stubborn brat.

Still, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for her. She looked terrible. She wasn't eating any food, and just played with the utensils, with her eyes fixed in the distance. I thought she had probably been crying, as humans didn't usually have the white of their eyes, or their noses, red. Also, they didn't sob while sitting at bars. Usually.

Poor gal. She had probably lost all she got on Omega. But what was I supposed to do? They were gunning down humans in there, and not just the Blue Suns were doing it. Looters, victims with nothing to loose, and every angry non-human neighbour was a very real threat. She wouldn't have stood a chance in there.

I guess I could have let her in, if she had had some more people to accompany her. Surely there were other humans she knew on the district, right? Friends or neighbours, I guess. Yet there she was, alone. Omega is even tougher when you don't have someone to back you up.

I decided to stop there and sit at the bar, next to her. She didn't even look at me. When I ordered my dinner, she seemed to recognise my voice and looked up from her plate. She frowned and looked back down almost immediately.

"Hey", I said. It took a long couple of seconds for her to look at me, with such intense hatred in her eyes. "Hey, sorry about earlier, lady."

She sighed and looked around, annoyed. She started playing with a fork while turning slightly around, to avoid looking at me.

"I was just doing my job, you know", I said.

I didn't push it any further. I waited for my meal, in silence, and the girl kept looking at how hers went colder by the minute. It was a pale, bland handful of something, and just thinking that it looked delicious made me realise how hungry I really was.

I ate my own meal, quietly, discretely looking at her from time to time, but letting her be. In the end she turned to me, angry, but mostly sad, realising there was no use.

"And what am I supposed to do now?", she said. "Christ… Why me? Shit."

I didn't know what to say, and I felt bad about it. Sure I had saved her, but what now? Was there anybody on omega to save people like her, from situations like hers? She kept talking, mostly to herself.

"Shit… I guess I could call my mother… Not that a call from here is gonna be cheap… But I guess she'd like to know I'm alright. And maybe she can send me some money, to pay the rent while I recover…"

She used the fork to pinch the food on her plate, but didn't eat any. She didn't look at me. She was trying to hide her face with her hand, I believe. I could see her lower lip trembling, and that could only mean one thing.

"Everything I had was in there… In that filthy room… And now it's gone…"

I was afraid of saying anything. I've never had much tact with crying people. But still, I opened my mouth.

"Are you… are you sure of it? I mean, not all buildings have been looted. You could go and check it out."

I knew it wasn't for my words that she calmed down, she was probably tired of crying already, and too angry to do it anyway. She looked at me, briefly, and with some hostility, just to make it clear she hadn't forgiven me.

"Yeah… I should. I heard the district is open now."

She looked at her food, one last time, hopelessly.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I said. She could benefit from an assault rifle, and being accompanied by a turian could help, as well. I thought I should do something for her, the poor thing. However, she looked at me like I was crazy. Or, like I had insulted her.

"Why would I want that?" She frowned and went back to ignoring me. "Sir, please" she said to the bartender "could you put this in a bag for me? I can't finish it right now."

The bartender handed her the food in a small plastic container. "Might as well start saving now." she said. She stood up, ready to leave. "I think I'll be able to afford only one kind of meal from now on…"

I stood up, and insisted. "Hey… You may need some help with thugs. I mean, the district is open, but it hasn't been cleaned up yet…"

"I can take care of myself."

She didn't look so sure of that, and I let her know. She looked at me, disgruntled.

"You wouldn't let me come in the first place, and now you want to help me? What, are you feeling guilty or something?" She crossed her arms, like I had seen many humans do before when they were being defiant. I used to find it silly, but now I think it really suits them.

"Look, lady, I didn't let you in because I knew it was the best for you. And now, I think the best for you is to be seen in company of an alien, just in case."

"Just in case. Right. Do whatever you want."

So I did. I followed her in silence. Things in the district were bad, even worst than what I had imagined. She looked straight ahead for most of the walk, after seeing the first pile of bodies. She probably didn't notice how many of them were human. She looked disturbed, and I thought talking would help her distract from the misery in the street.

"So… You have any family or friends in the district?"

I realised that, if she had, it wasn't probably the best topic to talk about, as by that time they were all probably dead.

"No", she replied. And she didn't say anything else. Nearby, a group of armed Blue Suns were searching a band of humans. Two of them were down on the ground, with their hands up in the head, and the Blue Suns aiming at them with their rifles. When one of the humans looked up at the girl, he was kicked in the face by a turian merc. "Looters…" he said, looking at us.

I hope the girl realised that, without my company, she would probably had joined those humans in the line to be searched. She probably did, because when it was all over, she actually thanked me.

However, when we reached her apartment she seemed… She wasn't sad, or angry. I thought she was just being cynic about it, examining the damage, evaluating her chances.

"Well, I can't lock the door anymore. Not that there is any need of that…"

It was a tiny, one room apartment. All drawers and cabinets had been searched, and the whole place was a mess. Most pieces of furniture, however, were still in good shape.

"The computer is gone. About the only valuable thing I had, really. I guess it's public terminals from now on, again…" She walked into the corner that served as a kitchen. "I had some money in a jar. It wasn't much, but damn. Shit, they tore the refrigerator apart! Why would they do that?"

"They were probably looking for components to sell. It's not much, but well…"

"Yeah, everybody's desperate around here." She turned back to look at me. "Hey, now that you're here, you could help me put those things in place."

I helped her move the sofa, and the remains of the fridge, back into place. The girl opened it and placed the restaurant food on the empty, non working appliance. And she sighed, sitting on the sofa, tired.

I couldn't leave her like that, but at the same time I felt like I was being a nuisance. I stood there in silence, awkward, while she thought intensely of what to do next.

"Hey… Hmmm…" She looked at me, surprised that I was still there. I pointed at the broken door lock. "I have a friend that can fix that for you. Just in case, you know. The district has never been safe really, and it would cost you a small fortune otherwise."

She stood up and walked around, thinking, sighting, massaging her forehead.

"I know you were just doing your job, you don't have to do this." She said. "It wasn't your fault. Hell, the looters were probably human anyway. I can get back on my feet, it'll just… Take some time."

I shrugged. "Well… as you wish, lady." I looked around, one last time. "It's just that Omega is harsh, and specially hostile towards humans. Newcomers, am I right?" She didn't even smile. I decided to leave.

"Anyway," I felt like I wanted to stay and make her reconsider, but I didn't want to offend her. She was probably serious when she said she could get back on her feet by herself, but I had had experiences with human pride before, and I didn't want it to end like that, with her damaging herself.

I wouldn't let her close this door, and lose this chance. So, before leaving, I wrote a note for her.

"I live in block 87, in the alley near the Afterlife club. If there's anything I can help you with, ask for me around there" I said, handing her the note with my name and address. She took it and looked at me with a trace of scepticism in her face, but at least she wasn't frowning with hostility.

"Thanks" she said, quickly. I smiled at how much it took her to say it, and nodded.

"And, again", I added "sorry for this whole mess."

I left, hoping she would call me, hoping she wouldn't let things get out of hand. I'm not rich, but I've been in this station a long time, and I can give her a hand. I mean, there's been a lot going on between my people and humans, but in the end they're pretty good people. And, just like us, they need a hand from time to time.


End file.
